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<font face="Verdana, sans-serif" size="2"><p align="center"><b><font size="5">Using the built-in Tools</font></b></p>



The PureBasic IDE comes with many building tools, to make programming tasks 
easier and increase your productivity. Many of them can be configured to be 
either accessible from the Menu as separate windows, or to be permanently 
displayed in the Panel on the side of the editing area. 

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For information on how to configure these tools and where they are displayed, 
see <a href="ide_preferences.html">Configuring the IDE</a>. 


 


<p><b>Tools for the Side Panel Area</b></p><blockquote>


<b>Procedure Browser</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_procedurelist.png"></p>



This tool displays a list of all <a href="procedures.html">procedures</a> and <a href="macros.html">macros</a> declared in the current source 
code. By double-clicking on an entry in that list, the cursor automatically 
jumps to that procedure. 
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Macros will be marked in the list by a "+" sign before the name. 
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You can also place special comment marks in your code, 
that will be displayed in the list too. They look like this: ";- &lt;description&gt;". 
The ; starts a comment, the ??that follows it immediately defines such a mark. 
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The description will be shown in the Procedure list, and clicking on it will jump 
to the line of this mark. Such a comment mark can be distinguished from a Procedure 
by the "&gt; " that is displayed before it in the procedure list. 
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The list of procedures can be sorted, and it can display the procedure/macro arguments in the list. 
For these options, see <a href="ide_preferences.html">Configuring the IDE</a>. 

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<b>Project Panel</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_project.png"></p>



This tool displays a tree of all files in the current <a href="ide_projects.html">project</a>. A double-click on a file 
opens it in the IDE. This allows fast access to all files in the project. A right-click on a file opens a context menu 
which provides more options: 

 

<blockquote>

<p><img src="images/ide_popupmenu_project.png"></p>

<u>打开</u> - 在开发环境中打开文件。<br><u>在文件浏览器中打开</u> - 在文件查看器中打开文件。在Explorer中打开<br><u>在Explorer中打开</u> - 在操作系统的文件管理器中打开文件，它会调用扩展名所关连的程序打开它。<br><u>添加文件到项目</u> - 添加一个新文件到工程项目中来。<br><u>从项目中移除</u> - 将选中的一个或多个文件从工程项目中移除。<br><u>刷新自动完成数据</u> - 重新扫描自动完成的项目文件 

</blockquote>


<b>Explorer</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_fileexplorer.png"></p>



The Explorer tool displays an explorer, from which you can select files and open 
them quickly with a double-click. PureBasic files (*.pb, *.pbi, *.pbp, *.pbf) will 
be loaded into the edit area and all other recognized files (text &amp; binary) files 
will be displayed into the internal File Viewer. 

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<b>Variable Viewer</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_variablelist.png"></p>



The variable viewer can display <a href="variables.html">variables</a>, 
<a href="dim.html">Arrays</a>, <a href="newlist.html">lists</a>, 
<a href="general_rules.html">Constants</a>, <a href="structures.html">Structures</a> 
and <a href="interfaces.html">Interfaces</a> defined in your source code, or 
any currently opened file. You can configure what exactly it should display in 
the <a href="ide_preferences.html">preferences</a>. 
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Note: The displaying of variables is somewhat limited for now. It can only detect 
variables explicitly declared with <a href="define.html">Define</a>, 
<a href="global.html">Global</a>, <a href="shared.html">Shared</a>, 
<a href="protected.html">Protected</a> or <a href="static.html">Static</a>. 

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<b>Code Templates</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_templates.png"></p>



The templates tool allows you to manage a list of small code parts, that you can 
quickly insert into your source code with a double-click. It allows you to manage the 
codes in different directories, and put a comment to each code. This tool is perfect to 
manage small, often used code parts. 

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<b>Issue Browser</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_issues.png"></p>



The issue browser tool collects comments in the source code that fit a defined format 
and lists them ordered by priority. It can be used to track which areas of the 
source code still need to be worked on. 
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Each displayed issue corresponds to one comment in 
the code. A double-click on the issue shows that code line. Issues can be displayed for 
the current file, or for multiple files (all open files, or all files that belong to 
the current <a href="ide_projects.html">project</a>). 
The issue list can also be exported in CSV format. 
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To configure the collected issues, see the "Issues" section in the 
<a href="ide_preferences.html">Preferences</a>. 

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<b>Color Picker</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_colorrequester.png"></p>

The color picker helps you to find the perfect color value for whatever task you need. 
The following methods of picking a color are available: 
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RGB: Select a color by choosing red, green and blue intensities. 
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HSV: Select a color by choosing hue, saturation and value. 
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HSL: Select a color by choosing hue, saturation and lightness. 
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Wheel: Select a color using the HSV model in a color wheel. 
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Palette: Select a color from a predefined palette. 
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Name: Select a color from a palette by name. 
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The color selection includes an alpha component, if the "Include alpha channel" checkbox is activated. 
The individual components (red/green/blue intensities or hue/saturation/lightness) as well as 
the hexadecimal representation of the current color can be seen and modified in the text fields. 
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The "Insert Color" button inserts the hexadecimal value of the current color in the source code. 
The "Insert RGB" button inserts the color as a call to the <a href="../2ddrawing/rgb.html">RGB()</a> or 
<a href="../2ddrawing/rgba.html">RGBA()</a> function into the code. The "Save Color" button saves the current color 
to the history area at the bottom. Clicking on a color in the history makes it the current color again. 

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<b>Character Table</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_ascii-table.png"></p>



The character table tool displays a table showing the first 256 unicode characters, together with 
their index in decimal and hex, as well as the corresponding html notation. By double-clicking 
on any line, this character will be inserted into the source code. With the buttons on the 
bottom, you can select which column of the table to insert on a double-click. 


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<b>Help Tool</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_help.png"></p>



The Help Tool is an alternative viewer for the <a href="ide_help.html">reference guide</a>. It can 
be used to view the PureBasic manual side by side with the code. Whether or not the F1 shortcut opens 
the manual in the tool or as a separate window can be specified in the 
<a href="ide_preferences.html">preferences</a>. 

 

</blockquote>
<p><b>Other built-in tools</b></p><blockquote>


<b>Structure Viewer</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_structureviewer.png"></p>



The structure viewer allows you to view all the Structures, Interfaces and Constants 
predefined in PureBasic. Double-clicking on a Structure or Interface shows the 
declaration. On top of the list you can select a filter to display only entries that 
start with a given character. 
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The "Back" button navigates back through the viewed entries. 
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"Insert name" inserts just the name of the selected entry. 
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"Insert copy" inserts a copy of the declaration of that entry. 
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"Insert" lets you enter a variable name and then inserts a definition of that variable 
and the selected entry and all elements of it. 

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<b>File Viewer</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_fileviewer.png"></p>



The internal file viewer allows you do display certain types of files. Text files, 
images and web pages (windows only). Any unknown file type will be displayed in a 
hex-viewer. The "Open" button opens a new file, the "X button" closes it and the 
arrows can be used to navigate through the open files. 
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Also any binary file that you attempt to open from the Explorer tool, or by 
double-clicking on an <a href="includes.html">IncludeBinary</a> keyword will be 
displayed in this file viewer. 


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<b>Compare Files/Folders</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_diff_options.png"></p>



This tool can compare two (text-) files or two directories and highlight their differences. 
The "Options" tab can be used to ignore some differences such as spaces or upper/lowercase changes. 

 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_diff_files.png"></p>



The files are shown side by side with the differences marked in the following way: 
Lines shown in red were removed in the file on the right, lines shown in green were added 
in the file on the right and lines shown in yellow were changed between the two files. 

 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_diff_directories.png"></p>



When comparing directories, the content of both directories is examined (with the option to filter 
the search by file extension and include subdirectories) and the files are marked in a similar way: 
Files in red do not exist in the second directory, files in green are new in the second directory and 
files in yellow were modified. A double-click on a modified file shows the modifications made 
to that file. 


 


</blockquote>
<p><b>Other entries in the Tools menu</b></p><blockquote>


<b>Form Designer</b> 

<p><img src="images/ide_tools_vdesigner.png"></p>



The Form Designer can be used to design the user interface for you 
application. For more information, see the <a href="ide_form.html">form designer</a> chapter. 
 
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